CANTO XVIII.

CANTO XVIII.Of iron colour, and composed of stone,A place called Malebolge[515]is in Hell,Girt by a cliff of substance like its own.In that malignant region yawns a well[516]Right in the centre, ample and profound;Of which I duly will the structure tell.The zone[517]that lies between them, then, is round—Between the well and precipice hard and high;Into ten vales divided is the ground.As is the figure offered to the eye,10Where numerous moats a castle’s towers encloseThat they the walls may better fortify;A like appearance was made here by those.And as, again, from threshold of such placeMany a drawbridge to the outworks goes;So ridges from the precipice’s baseCutting athwart the moats and barriers run,Till at the well join the extremities.[518]From Geryon’s back when we were shaken down’Twas here we stood, until the Poet’s feet20Moved to the left, and I, behind, came on.New torments on the right mine eyes did meetWith new tormentors, novel woe on woe;With which the nearer Bolgia was replete.Sinners, all naked, in the gulf below,This side the middle met us; while they strodeOn that side with us, but more swift did go.[519]Even so the Romans, that the mighty crowdAcross the bridge, the year of Jubilee,Might pass with ease, ordained a rule of road[520]—30Facing the Castle, on that side should beThe multitude which to St. Peter’s hied;So to the Mount on this was passage free.On the grim rocky ground, on either side,I saw horned devils[521]armed with heavy whipWhich on the sinners from behind they plied.Ah, how they made the wretches nimbly skipAt the first lashes; no one ever yetBut sought from the second and the third to slip.And as I onward went, mine eyes were set40On one of them; whereon I called in haste:‘This one already I have surely met!’Therefore to know him, fixedly I gazed;And my kind Leader willingly delayed,While for a little I my course retraced.On this the scourged one, thinking to evadeMy search, his visage bent without avail,For: ‘Thou that gazest on the ground,’ I said,‘If these thy features tell trustworthy tale,Venedico Caccianimico[522]thou!50But what has brought thee to such sharp regale?’[523]And he, ‘I tell it ’gainst my will, I trow,But thy clear accents[524]to the old world bearMy memory, and make me all avow.I was the man who Ghisola the fairTo serve the Marquis’ evil will led on,Whatever[525]the uncomely tale declare.Of Bolognese here weeping not aloneAm I; so full the place of them, to-day’Tween Reno and Savena[526]are not known60So many tongues thatSipadeftly say:And if of this thou’dst know the reason why,Think but how greedy were our hearts alway.’To him thus speaking did a demon cry:‘Pander, begone!’ and smote him with his thong;‘Here are no women for thy coin to buy.’Then, with my Escort joined, I moved along.Few steps we made until we there had come,Where from the bank a rib of rock was flung.With ease enough up to its top we clomb,70And, turning on the ridge, bore to the right;[527]And those eternal circles[528]parted from.When we had reached where underneath the heightA passage opes, yielding the scourged a way,My Guide bade: ‘Tarry, so to hold in sightThose other spirits born in evil day,Whose faces until now from thee have beenConcealed, because with ours their progress lay.’Then from the ancient bridge by us were seenThe troop which toward us on that circuit sped,80Chased onward, likewise, by the scourges keen.And my good Master, ere I asked him, said:‘That lordly one now coming hither, see,By whom, despite of pain, no tears are shed.What mien he still retains of majesty!’Tis Jason, who by courage and by guileThe Colchians of the ram deprived. ’Twas heWho on his passage by the Lemnian isle,Where all of womankind with daring handUpon their males had wrought a murder vile,90With loving pledges and with speeches blandThe tender-yeared Hypsipyle betrayed,Who had herself a fraud on others planned.Forlorn he left her then, when pregnant made.That is the crime condemns him to this pain;And for Medea[529]too is vengeance paid.Who in his manner cheat compose his train.Of the first moat sufficient now is known,And those who in its jaws engulfed remain.’Already had we by the strait path gone100To where ’tis with the second bank dovetailed—The buttress whence a second arch is thrown.Here heard we who in the next Bolgia wailed[530]And puffed for breath; reverberations toldThey with their open palms themselves assailed.The sides were crusted over with a mouldPlastered upon them by foul mists that rise,And both with eyes and nose a contest hold.The bottom is so deep, in vain our eyesSearched it till further up the bridge we went,110To where the arch o’erhangs what under lies.Ascended there, our eyes we downward bent,And I saw people in such ordure drowned,A very cesspool ’twas of excrement.And while I from above am searching round,One with a head so filth-smeared I picked out,I knew not if ’twas lay, or tonsure-crowned.‘Why then so eager,’ asked he with a shout,‘To stare at me of all the filthy crew?’And I to him: ‘Because I scarce can doubt120That formerly thee dry of hair I knew,Alessio Interminei[531]the Lucchese;And therefore thee I chiefly hold in view.’Smiting his head-piece, then, his words were these:‘’Twas flattery steeped me here; for, using such,My tongue itself enough could never please.’‘Now stretch thou somewhat forward, but not much,’Thereon my Leader bade me, ‘and thine eyesSlowly advance till they her features touchAnd the dishevelled baggage recognise,130Clawing her yonder with her nails unclean,Now standing up, now squatting on her thighs.’Tis harlot Thais,[532]who, when she had beenAsked by her lover, “Am I generousAnd worthy thanks?” said, “Greatly so, I ween.”Enough[533]of this place has been seen by us.’FOOTNOTES:[515]Malebolge: Or Evil Pits; literally, Evil Pockets.[516]A well: The Ninth and lowest Circle, to be described in Canto xxxii., etc.[517]The zone: The Eighth Circle, in which the fraudulent of all species are punished, lies between the precipice and the Ninth Circle. A vivid picture of the enormous height of the enclosing wall has been presented to us at the close of the preceding Canto. As in the description of the Second Circle the atmosphere is represented as malignant, being murky and disturbed with tempest; so the Malebolge is called malignant too, being all of barren iron-coloured rock. In both cases the surroundings of the sinners may well be spoken of as malign, adverse to any thought of goodwill and joy.[518]The extremities: TheMalebolgeconsists of ten circular pits or fosses, one inside of another. The outermost lies under the precipice which falls sheer from the Seventh Circle; the innermost, and of course the smallest, runs immediately outside of the ‘Well,’ which is the Ninth Circle. The Bolgias or valleys are divided from each other by rocky banks; and, each Bolgia being at a lower level than the one that encloses it, the inside of each bank is necessarily deeper than the outside. Ribs or ridges of rock—like spokes of a wheel to the axle-tree—run from the foot of the precipice to the outer rim of the ‘Well,’ vaulting the moats at right angles with the course of them. Thus each rib takes the form of a ten-arched bridge. By one or other of these Virgil and Dante now travel towards the centre and the base of Inferno; their general course being downward, though varied by the ascent in turn of the hog-backed arches over the moats.[519]More swift: The sinners in the First Bolgia are divided into two gangs, moving in opposite directions, the course of those on the outside being to the right, as looked at by Dante. These are the shades of panders; those in the inner current are such as seduced on their own account. Here a list of the various classes of sinners contained in the Bolgias of the Eighth Circle may be given:—1stBolgia—Seducers,Cantoxviii.2d”Flatterers,””3d”Simoniacs,”xix.4th”Soothsayers,”xx.5th”Barrators,”xxi. xxii.6th”Hypocrites,”xxiii.7th”Thieves,”xxiv. xxv.8th”Evil Counsellors,”xxvi. xxvii.9th”Scandal and Heresy Mongers,”xxviii. xxix.10th”Falsifiers,”xxix. xxx.[520]A rule of road: In the year 1300 a Jubilee was held in Rome with Plenary Indulgence for all pilgrims. Villani says that while it lasted the number of strangers in Rome was never less than two hundred thousand. The bridge and castle spoken of in the text are those of St. Angelo. The Mount is probably the Janiculum.[521]Horned devils: Here the demons are horned—terrible remembrancers to the sinner of the injured husband.[522]Venedico Caccianimico: A Bolognese noble, brother of Ghisola, whom he inveigled into yielding herself to the Marquis of Este, lord of Ferrara. Venedico died between 1290 and 1300.[523]Such sharp regale: ‘Such pungent sauces.’ There is here a play of words on theSalse, the name of a wild ravine outside the walls of Bologna, where the bodies of felons were thrown. Benvenuto says it used to be a taunt among boys at Bologna: Your father was pitched into the Salse.[524]Thy clear accents: Not broken with sobs like his own and those of his companions.[525]Whatever, etc.: Different accounts seem to have been current about the affair of Ghisola.[526]’Tween Reno, etc.: The Reno and Savena are streams that flow past Bologna.Sipais Bolognese for Maybe, or for Yes. So Dante describes Tuscany as the country whereSiis heard (Inf.xxxiii. 80). With regard to the vices of the Bolognese, Benvenuto says: ‘Dante had studied in Bologna, and had seen and observed all these things.’[527]To the right: This is only an apparent departure from their leftward course. Moving as they were to the left along the edge of the Bolgia, they required to turn to the right to cross the bridge that spanned it.[528]Those eternal circles: The meaning is not clear; perhaps it only is that they have now done with the outer stream of sinners in this Bolgia, left by them engaged in endless procession round and round.[529]Medea: When the Argonauts landed on Lemnos, they found it without any males, the women, incited by Venus, having put them all to death, with the exception of Thoas, saved by his daughter Hypsipyle. When Jason deserted her he sailed for Colchis, and with the assistance of Medea won the Golden Fleece. Medea, who accompanied him from Colchis, was in turn deserted by him.[530]Who in the next Bolgia wailed: The flatterers in the Second Bolgia.[531]Alessio Interminei: Of the Great Lucchese family of the Interminelli, to which the famous Castruccio Castrucani belonged. Alessio is know to have been living in 1295. Dante may have known him personally. Benvenuto says he was so liberal of his flattery that he spent it even on menial servants.[532]Thais: In theEunuchof Terence, Thraso, the lover of that courtesan, asks Gnatho, their go-between, if she really sent him many thanks for the present of a slave-girl he had sent her. ‘Enormous!’ says Gnatho. It proves what great store Dante set on ancient instances when he thought this worth citing.[533]Enough, etc.: Most readers will agree with Virgil.

Of iron colour, and composed of stone,A place called Malebolge[515]is in Hell,Girt by a cliff of substance like its own.In that malignant region yawns a well[516]Right in the centre, ample and profound;Of which I duly will the structure tell.The zone[517]that lies between them, then, is round—Between the well and precipice hard and high;Into ten vales divided is the ground.As is the figure offered to the eye,10Where numerous moats a castle’s towers encloseThat they the walls may better fortify;A like appearance was made here by those.And as, again, from threshold of such placeMany a drawbridge to the outworks goes;So ridges from the precipice’s baseCutting athwart the moats and barriers run,Till at the well join the extremities.[518]From Geryon’s back when we were shaken down’Twas here we stood, until the Poet’s feet20Moved to the left, and I, behind, came on.New torments on the right mine eyes did meetWith new tormentors, novel woe on woe;With which the nearer Bolgia was replete.Sinners, all naked, in the gulf below,This side the middle met us; while they strodeOn that side with us, but more swift did go.[519]Even so the Romans, that the mighty crowdAcross the bridge, the year of Jubilee,Might pass with ease, ordained a rule of road[520]—30Facing the Castle, on that side should beThe multitude which to St. Peter’s hied;So to the Mount on this was passage free.On the grim rocky ground, on either side,I saw horned devils[521]armed with heavy whipWhich on the sinners from behind they plied.Ah, how they made the wretches nimbly skipAt the first lashes; no one ever yetBut sought from the second and the third to slip.And as I onward went, mine eyes were set40On one of them; whereon I called in haste:‘This one already I have surely met!’Therefore to know him, fixedly I gazed;And my kind Leader willingly delayed,While for a little I my course retraced.On this the scourged one, thinking to evadeMy search, his visage bent without avail,For: ‘Thou that gazest on the ground,’ I said,‘If these thy features tell trustworthy tale,Venedico Caccianimico[522]thou!50But what has brought thee to such sharp regale?’[523]And he, ‘I tell it ’gainst my will, I trow,But thy clear accents[524]to the old world bearMy memory, and make me all avow.I was the man who Ghisola the fairTo serve the Marquis’ evil will led on,Whatever[525]the uncomely tale declare.Of Bolognese here weeping not aloneAm I; so full the place of them, to-day’Tween Reno and Savena[526]are not known60So many tongues thatSipadeftly say:And if of this thou’dst know the reason why,Think but how greedy were our hearts alway.’To him thus speaking did a demon cry:‘Pander, begone!’ and smote him with his thong;‘Here are no women for thy coin to buy.’Then, with my Escort joined, I moved along.Few steps we made until we there had come,Where from the bank a rib of rock was flung.With ease enough up to its top we clomb,70And, turning on the ridge, bore to the right;[527]And those eternal circles[528]parted from.When we had reached where underneath the heightA passage opes, yielding the scourged a way,My Guide bade: ‘Tarry, so to hold in sightThose other spirits born in evil day,Whose faces until now from thee have beenConcealed, because with ours their progress lay.’Then from the ancient bridge by us were seenThe troop which toward us on that circuit sped,80Chased onward, likewise, by the scourges keen.And my good Master, ere I asked him, said:‘That lordly one now coming hither, see,By whom, despite of pain, no tears are shed.What mien he still retains of majesty!’Tis Jason, who by courage and by guileThe Colchians of the ram deprived. ’Twas heWho on his passage by the Lemnian isle,Where all of womankind with daring handUpon their males had wrought a murder vile,90With loving pledges and with speeches blandThe tender-yeared Hypsipyle betrayed,Who had herself a fraud on others planned.Forlorn he left her then, when pregnant made.That is the crime condemns him to this pain;And for Medea[529]too is vengeance paid.Who in his manner cheat compose his train.Of the first moat sufficient now is known,And those who in its jaws engulfed remain.’Already had we by the strait path gone100To where ’tis with the second bank dovetailed—The buttress whence a second arch is thrown.Here heard we who in the next Bolgia wailed[530]And puffed for breath; reverberations toldThey with their open palms themselves assailed.The sides were crusted over with a mouldPlastered upon them by foul mists that rise,And both with eyes and nose a contest hold.The bottom is so deep, in vain our eyesSearched it till further up the bridge we went,110To where the arch o’erhangs what under lies.Ascended there, our eyes we downward bent,And I saw people in such ordure drowned,A very cesspool ’twas of excrement.And while I from above am searching round,One with a head so filth-smeared I picked out,I knew not if ’twas lay, or tonsure-crowned.‘Why then so eager,’ asked he with a shout,‘To stare at me of all the filthy crew?’And I to him: ‘Because I scarce can doubt120That formerly thee dry of hair I knew,Alessio Interminei[531]the Lucchese;And therefore thee I chiefly hold in view.’Smiting his head-piece, then, his words were these:‘’Twas flattery steeped me here; for, using such,My tongue itself enough could never please.’‘Now stretch thou somewhat forward, but not much,’Thereon my Leader bade me, ‘and thine eyesSlowly advance till they her features touchAnd the dishevelled baggage recognise,130Clawing her yonder with her nails unclean,Now standing up, now squatting on her thighs.’Tis harlot Thais,[532]who, when she had beenAsked by her lover, “Am I generousAnd worthy thanks?” said, “Greatly so, I ween.”Enough[533]of this place has been seen by us.’

FOOTNOTES:[515]Malebolge: Or Evil Pits; literally, Evil Pockets.[516]A well: The Ninth and lowest Circle, to be described in Canto xxxii., etc.[517]The zone: The Eighth Circle, in which the fraudulent of all species are punished, lies between the precipice and the Ninth Circle. A vivid picture of the enormous height of the enclosing wall has been presented to us at the close of the preceding Canto. As in the description of the Second Circle the atmosphere is represented as malignant, being murky and disturbed with tempest; so the Malebolge is called malignant too, being all of barren iron-coloured rock. In both cases the surroundings of the sinners may well be spoken of as malign, adverse to any thought of goodwill and joy.[518]The extremities: TheMalebolgeconsists of ten circular pits or fosses, one inside of another. The outermost lies under the precipice which falls sheer from the Seventh Circle; the innermost, and of course the smallest, runs immediately outside of the ‘Well,’ which is the Ninth Circle. The Bolgias or valleys are divided from each other by rocky banks; and, each Bolgia being at a lower level than the one that encloses it, the inside of each bank is necessarily deeper than the outside. Ribs or ridges of rock—like spokes of a wheel to the axle-tree—run from the foot of the precipice to the outer rim of the ‘Well,’ vaulting the moats at right angles with the course of them. Thus each rib takes the form of a ten-arched bridge. By one or other of these Virgil and Dante now travel towards the centre and the base of Inferno; their general course being downward, though varied by the ascent in turn of the hog-backed arches over the moats.[519]More swift: The sinners in the First Bolgia are divided into two gangs, moving in opposite directions, the course of those on the outside being to the right, as looked at by Dante. These are the shades of panders; those in the inner current are such as seduced on their own account. Here a list of the various classes of sinners contained in the Bolgias of the Eighth Circle may be given:—1stBolgia—Seducers,Cantoxviii.2d”Flatterers,””3d”Simoniacs,”xix.4th”Soothsayers,”xx.5th”Barrators,”xxi. xxii.6th”Hypocrites,”xxiii.7th”Thieves,”xxiv. xxv.8th”Evil Counsellors,”xxvi. xxvii.9th”Scandal and Heresy Mongers,”xxviii. xxix.10th”Falsifiers,”xxix. xxx.[520]A rule of road: In the year 1300 a Jubilee was held in Rome with Plenary Indulgence for all pilgrims. Villani says that while it lasted the number of strangers in Rome was never less than two hundred thousand. The bridge and castle spoken of in the text are those of St. Angelo. The Mount is probably the Janiculum.[521]Horned devils: Here the demons are horned—terrible remembrancers to the sinner of the injured husband.[522]Venedico Caccianimico: A Bolognese noble, brother of Ghisola, whom he inveigled into yielding herself to the Marquis of Este, lord of Ferrara. Venedico died between 1290 and 1300.[523]Such sharp regale: ‘Such pungent sauces.’ There is here a play of words on theSalse, the name of a wild ravine outside the walls of Bologna, where the bodies of felons were thrown. Benvenuto says it used to be a taunt among boys at Bologna: Your father was pitched into the Salse.[524]Thy clear accents: Not broken with sobs like his own and those of his companions.[525]Whatever, etc.: Different accounts seem to have been current about the affair of Ghisola.[526]’Tween Reno, etc.: The Reno and Savena are streams that flow past Bologna.Sipais Bolognese for Maybe, or for Yes. So Dante describes Tuscany as the country whereSiis heard (Inf.xxxiii. 80). With regard to the vices of the Bolognese, Benvenuto says: ‘Dante had studied in Bologna, and had seen and observed all these things.’[527]To the right: This is only an apparent departure from their leftward course. Moving as they were to the left along the edge of the Bolgia, they required to turn to the right to cross the bridge that spanned it.[528]Those eternal circles: The meaning is not clear; perhaps it only is that they have now done with the outer stream of sinners in this Bolgia, left by them engaged in endless procession round and round.[529]Medea: When the Argonauts landed on Lemnos, they found it without any males, the women, incited by Venus, having put them all to death, with the exception of Thoas, saved by his daughter Hypsipyle. When Jason deserted her he sailed for Colchis, and with the assistance of Medea won the Golden Fleece. Medea, who accompanied him from Colchis, was in turn deserted by him.[530]Who in the next Bolgia wailed: The flatterers in the Second Bolgia.[531]Alessio Interminei: Of the Great Lucchese family of the Interminelli, to which the famous Castruccio Castrucani belonged. Alessio is know to have been living in 1295. Dante may have known him personally. Benvenuto says he was so liberal of his flattery that he spent it even on menial servants.[532]Thais: In theEunuchof Terence, Thraso, the lover of that courtesan, asks Gnatho, their go-between, if she really sent him many thanks for the present of a slave-girl he had sent her. ‘Enormous!’ says Gnatho. It proves what great store Dante set on ancient instances when he thought this worth citing.[533]Enough, etc.: Most readers will agree with Virgil.

[515]Malebolge: Or Evil Pits; literally, Evil Pockets.

[516]A well: The Ninth and lowest Circle, to be described in Canto xxxii., etc.

[517]The zone: The Eighth Circle, in which the fraudulent of all species are punished, lies between the precipice and the Ninth Circle. A vivid picture of the enormous height of the enclosing wall has been presented to us at the close of the preceding Canto. As in the description of the Second Circle the atmosphere is represented as malignant, being murky and disturbed with tempest; so the Malebolge is called malignant too, being all of barren iron-coloured rock. In both cases the surroundings of the sinners may well be spoken of as malign, adverse to any thought of goodwill and joy.

[518]The extremities: TheMalebolgeconsists of ten circular pits or fosses, one inside of another. The outermost lies under the precipice which falls sheer from the Seventh Circle; the innermost, and of course the smallest, runs immediately outside of the ‘Well,’ which is the Ninth Circle. The Bolgias or valleys are divided from each other by rocky banks; and, each Bolgia being at a lower level than the one that encloses it, the inside of each bank is necessarily deeper than the outside. Ribs or ridges of rock—like spokes of a wheel to the axle-tree—run from the foot of the precipice to the outer rim of the ‘Well,’ vaulting the moats at right angles with the course of them. Thus each rib takes the form of a ten-arched bridge. By one or other of these Virgil and Dante now travel towards the centre and the base of Inferno; their general course being downward, though varied by the ascent in turn of the hog-backed arches over the moats.

[519]More swift: The sinners in the First Bolgia are divided into two gangs, moving in opposite directions, the course of those on the outside being to the right, as looked at by Dante. These are the shades of panders; those in the inner current are such as seduced on their own account. Here a list of the various classes of sinners contained in the Bolgias of the Eighth Circle may be given:—1stBolgia—Seducers,Cantoxviii.2d”Flatterers,””3d”Simoniacs,”xix.4th”Soothsayers,”xx.5th”Barrators,”xxi. xxii.6th”Hypocrites,”xxiii.7th”Thieves,”xxiv. xxv.8th”Evil Counsellors,”xxvi. xxvii.9th”Scandal and Heresy Mongers,”xxviii. xxix.10th”Falsifiers,”xxix. xxx.

1stBolgia—Seducers,Cantoxviii.2d”Flatterers,””3d”Simoniacs,”xix.4th”Soothsayers,”xx.5th”Barrators,”xxi. xxii.6th”Hypocrites,”xxiii.7th”Thieves,”xxiv. xxv.8th”Evil Counsellors,”xxvi. xxvii.9th”Scandal and Heresy Mongers,”xxviii. xxix.10th”Falsifiers,”xxix. xxx.

[520]A rule of road: In the year 1300 a Jubilee was held in Rome with Plenary Indulgence for all pilgrims. Villani says that while it lasted the number of strangers in Rome was never less than two hundred thousand. The bridge and castle spoken of in the text are those of St. Angelo. The Mount is probably the Janiculum.

[521]Horned devils: Here the demons are horned—terrible remembrancers to the sinner of the injured husband.

[522]Venedico Caccianimico: A Bolognese noble, brother of Ghisola, whom he inveigled into yielding herself to the Marquis of Este, lord of Ferrara. Venedico died between 1290 and 1300.

[523]Such sharp regale: ‘Such pungent sauces.’ There is here a play of words on theSalse, the name of a wild ravine outside the walls of Bologna, where the bodies of felons were thrown. Benvenuto says it used to be a taunt among boys at Bologna: Your father was pitched into the Salse.

[524]Thy clear accents: Not broken with sobs like his own and those of his companions.

[525]Whatever, etc.: Different accounts seem to have been current about the affair of Ghisola.

[526]’Tween Reno, etc.: The Reno and Savena are streams that flow past Bologna.Sipais Bolognese for Maybe, or for Yes. So Dante describes Tuscany as the country whereSiis heard (Inf.xxxiii. 80). With regard to the vices of the Bolognese, Benvenuto says: ‘Dante had studied in Bologna, and had seen and observed all these things.’

[527]To the right: This is only an apparent departure from their leftward course. Moving as they were to the left along the edge of the Bolgia, they required to turn to the right to cross the bridge that spanned it.

[528]Those eternal circles: The meaning is not clear; perhaps it only is that they have now done with the outer stream of sinners in this Bolgia, left by them engaged in endless procession round and round.

[529]Medea: When the Argonauts landed on Lemnos, they found it without any males, the women, incited by Venus, having put them all to death, with the exception of Thoas, saved by his daughter Hypsipyle. When Jason deserted her he sailed for Colchis, and with the assistance of Medea won the Golden Fleece. Medea, who accompanied him from Colchis, was in turn deserted by him.

[530]Who in the next Bolgia wailed: The flatterers in the Second Bolgia.

[531]Alessio Interminei: Of the Great Lucchese family of the Interminelli, to which the famous Castruccio Castrucani belonged. Alessio is know to have been living in 1295. Dante may have known him personally. Benvenuto says he was so liberal of his flattery that he spent it even on menial servants.

[532]Thais: In theEunuchof Terence, Thraso, the lover of that courtesan, asks Gnatho, their go-between, if she really sent him many thanks for the present of a slave-girl he had sent her. ‘Enormous!’ says Gnatho. It proves what great store Dante set on ancient instances when he thought this worth citing.

[533]Enough, etc.: Most readers will agree with Virgil.

Back to Index Next